Fix the Court executive director Gabe Roth released this statement following news that a Supreme Court plaza protester who was arrested in 2011 is attempting to take his case directly to the justices after it wended its way through the federal courts system for four-plus years.

Fix the Court is hopeful that the justices vote to hear this case, which would determine whether the Supreme Court’s plaza protest ban is constitutional, and we feel confident about the outcome.

Given the justices’ recent decisions that struck down buffer zones around military funerals and abortion clinics, we’d be surprised if the law permitting such a zone in front of the Supreme Court remains intact.

Twice in the last 15 months the Supreme Court Police have allowed members of the public to ascend the steps and demonstrate peacefully on the 20,000 sq.-ft. plaza, and there’s no reason they would not be able to maintain the peace there when the neighboring sidewalk is unable to hold everyone who shows up to assemble on a given day.